Tomas Soucek has dropped a brutally honest West Ham bombshell that sheds fresh light on the difficult task facing Nuno Espírito Santo behind the scenes.
Nuno Espirito Santo got off to a good start with West Ham fans with his attitude towards taking on the job from Graham Potter.
It was a phone call between Hammers chief David Sullivan and Nuno which changed everything.
West Ham were genuinely pondering whether to keep Potter at the helm until the October international break because they didn’t want the new boss to have Everton and Arsenal away as their first games in charge.
Sullivan explained that rationale to Nuno and the Portuguese insisted he wanted to go straight into the eye of the storm.
Honest Soucek drops new West Ham bombshell
A 1-1 draw at Everton and a resilient performance in a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal have West Ham something to build on.
There have already been ups and downs for Nuno and the usual inconsistency from the team.
The only consistent thing about West Ham over the last two years is that the team will concede goals.
After some encouraging results and performances, West Ham threw away a precious lead at Brighton in the dying moments to drop two points.
The Hammers then followed that up by twice throwing away the lead to lose 3-2 at home to Aston Villa.
West Ham will have to find at least another six or seven wins in order to stay up this season.
But when asked about how the Irons can improve performances and results, Nuno has always circled back to the same thing – training.
The Hammers boss has been banging the drum for West Ham’s players to show more dedication, commitment and effort in training sessions at Rush Green.
The Portuguese says it is the only way the team will truly progress, improve and bond.
Well now a brutally honest Tomas Soucek has dropped a West Ham bombshell that shows what Nuno is up against.
The tenures of both Julen Lopetegui and Potter were dogged with stories of unrest at West Ham’s training ground.
Soucek exposes teammates and it shows what Nuno is up against
Lopetegui fell out with the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Niclas Fullkrug, Edson Alvarez, Jean-Clair Todibo and even placid Alphonse Areola.
The Spaniard publicly admitted rows with Kudus and Todibo.
Potter also fell out with Todibo and one or two others behind the scenes according to a leak after he was sacked by West Ham.
It was claimed Potter told Todibo to up his effort levels in training and his response was to turn up late the next day.
Nuno has a different aura and carries more authority than his predecessors.
But it seems the same old problems persist.
Soucek’s new comments will infuriate supporters as they reveal deeper issues that go beyond results on the pitch and underline the scale of the job Nuno has on his hands.
As West Ham try to find a team spirit and formula to propel themselves out of relegation trouble, Soucek’s revelation offers a sobering reminder of just how much the new head coach is up against.
The fan favourite midfielder has been reduced to a substitute role under Nuno.
But whenever he is called upon, even as a makeshift striker, Soucek always gives his all – just as he does in training, where he holds a host of running records underlining his effort levels.
The same cannot be said for a number of unnamed West Ham players, though.
Because Soucek has revealed some players don’t put enough effort in during West Ham training and it shows in results.
What is your take on Alan Pardew’s BRUTAL comments? 🤔
And what is the bigger issue? The stadium or the squad?
The Czech captain says some West Ham training sessions are not good enough due to the lack of effort from some of his teammates.
And he has called on them to show more commitment, saying he doesn’t like seeing some players not trying hard in training and tells them so.
“I feel that we can rise out of it (the relegation zone),” Soucek told Iron Cast.
“We want to go higher, we don’t want to stay there.
“I feel we have power on (changing) it, but we have to keep it and do it maximum everywhere, even like the (training) sessions – sometimes it is really great but sometimes it’s not so perfect.
“But we have to keep consistent and on a high level (in training) and then you will perform. I don’t like if some players don’t train hard – and you have to tell them.”
To hear that highly paid professional footballers representing this great club are not pulling their weight in training is infuriating.
No wonder Nuno has been alluding to the need to up the levels at Rush Green.
Good on Soucek for calling it out too.
If more players shared his passion, work rate, desire and selfless attitude then West Ham would be nowhere near the bottom three.
It is just a shame he can’t name names but it may soon become obvious when Nuno is able to ship players out and get some in.
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